The previous record holder was the Peugeot EX1 concept car, which lapped the world famous Nurburgring in 9 minutes and 1.33 seconds…about as fast as a Chevy Cobalt SS. So not exactly a blistering pace. But Toyota’s purpose-built EV racer went far and beyond that old record, setting a new lap time for EV’s at 7 minutes and 47 seconds.

That’s a minute and 14 seconds faster, in an arena where records are often beaten by tenths of a second. So the new bar for EV’s is going to take a lot of effort to overcome The Nordschleife loop is nearly 13 miles, which the Toyota EV covered in less than 8 minutes. That puts the Toyota EV project in the same time range as the Chevy Corvette Z06, Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.

The difference being, of course, that all those cars are street legal and loaded with creature comforts. The Toyota EV racer? Not so much. But with the sudden surge in interest in EV’s at the Nurburgring, I expect to see plenty more teams showing up to break Toyota’s new lap time. An EV motorsports event on a grand scale seems almost inevitable at this point…and that gives me the warm and fuzzies. From a Toyota no less! The world really is turning upside down.

Source: Toyota Motorsports GmbH

Chris DeMorro is a writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs. You can read about his slow descent into madness at Sublime Burnout or follow his non-nonsensical ramblings on Twitter @harshcougar.

Christopher DeMorro

A writer and gearhead who loves all things automotive, from hybrids to HEMIs, Chris can be found wrenching or writing- or else, he's running, because he's one of those crazy people who gets enjoyment from running insane distances.

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